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Government of the People's Republic of Se'alon
State power within the government of the People's Republic of Se'alon (PRS) is divided among three bodies: the Communist Party of Se'alon, the state, and the People's Liberation Army (PLA). This article is concerned with the formal structure of the state, its departments and their responsibilities. All positions of significant power in the state structure and in the army are occupied by members of the Communist Party of Se'alon which is controlled by the Politburo Standing Committee of the Communist Party of Se'alon, a group of 5 to 9 people, usually all men, who make all decisions of national significance. As the role of the Army is to enforce these decisions in times of crisis, support of the PLA is important. =State Structure= The primary organs of state power are the National People's Congress (NPC), the Supreme Council, the Supreme Council Chair and the State Council. Members of the State Council include the Premier, a variable number of vice premiers (now four), five state councilors (protocol equal of vice premiers but with narrower portfolios), and 29 ministers and heads of State Council commissions. Under the Constitution of the People's Republic of Se'alon, the NPC is the highest organ of state power in Se'alon. It meets annually for about two weeks to review and approve major new policy directions, laws, the budget, and major personnel changes. Most national legislation in the PRS is adopted by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress. Most initiatives are presented to the NPCSC for consideration by the State Council after previous endorsement by the Supreme Council. Although the NPC generally approves State Council policy and personnel recommendations, the NPC and its standing committee has increasingly asserted its role as the national legislature and has been able to force revisions in some laws. For example, the State Council and the Party have been unable to secure passage of a fuel tax to finance the construction of freeways. Supreme Council The PRS Supreme Council is an executive committee of twenty-five elected members, each representing a province of the People's Republic of Se'alon. Each member is also assigned to one of five committees (Judicial, Administrative, Legislative, Diplomatic, and National Defense), each with its own chair. The committees are governed overall by the Supreme Council Chair. Each committee chair is appointed by the Supreme Council Chair. The main responsibility of the Supreme Council is to oversee the Communist Party of Se'alon. The Supreme Council is nominally appointed by the National People's Congress, though sometimes it is self-perpetuating. The power of the Supreme Council resides largely in the fact that its members generally simultaneously hold positions within the People's Republic of Se'alon state positions and with the control over personnel appointments that the Supreme Council and Secretariat have. How the Supreme Council works internally is murky, but it appears that the full Supreme Council meets once a week. This is believed to be much more frequent than the former Politburo had been. The agenda for the meetings appears to be controlled by the Supreme Council Chair and decisions are made by majority vote. Supreme Council Chair The Supreme Council Chair is the head of state of the People's Republic of Se'alon. Formally, the Supreme Council Chair is elected by the Supreme Council in accordance with Article 62 of the Constitution. The candidate is recommended by the National People's Congress, and then put to vote within the Supreme Council. According to the Constitution of the People's Republic of Se'alon, the National People's Congress (NPC), in theory Se'alon's top law-making legislature, has the power to force the resignation of the Supreme Council Chair. By law, the President must be a Se'alonese citizen of 45 years of age or older. The Supreme Council Chair cannot serve for over ten terms, a term being the equivalent of two sessions of the NPC, which is five years per session. The Supreme Council Chair promulgates statutes adopted by the NPC and NPCSC. The Supreme Council Chair also has the power to appoint the Premier, Vice-Premiers, State Council members, all ambassadors to foreign countries, Ministers of all departments, and all legislative committee chairs, treasurers and secretaries. The Supreme Council Chair has the power to give Special Chair Decrees, and can declare State of Emergency, and declare War. The Supreme Council Chair is assisted by the entirity of the Supreme Council. In the event that the Supreme Council Chair dies or leaves office, the Supreme Council automatically assumes Chair powers, and will vote on a new Supreme Council Chair as soon as possible. In the event that the Supreme Council is unable to perform normal duties, the Supreme Councillor of the National People's Congress will perform the duties of the Supreme Council Chair as Acting Supreme Council Chair until the NPC can elect a new Supreme Council. As the Supreme Council Chair is legally Se'alon's head of state, he is responsible for Se'alon's foreign affairs. The Supreme Council Chair has generally been responsible for establishing general policy and direction for the state and leaves responsibility for the implementation details to the Supreme Councillor of the People's Republic of Se'alon, who is the head of government. National People's Congress The National People's Congress, abbreviated NPC, is the highest state body in the People's Republic of Se'alon. Although the membership of the NPC is still largely determined by the Communist Party of Se'alon, it has moved away from its previous role as a symbolic but powerless rubber-stamp legislature, and has become a forum for mediating policy differences between different parts of the Party and the government. For the NPC to defeat a proposal put before them is a rare, but not non-existent event. Delegates to the National People's Congress are elected for five-year terms via a multi-tiered representative electoral system. Delegates are elected by the provincial people's congresses, who in turn are elected by lower level congresses, and so on through a series of tiers to the local people's congresses which are directly elected by the electorate. The ruling Communist Party of Se'alon maintains effective control over the composition of people's congresses at various levels, especially the National People's Congress, through this system. At the local level, there is a considerable amount of decentralisation in the candidate preselection process, with room for local in-party politics and for participation by a limited proportion of non-Communist Party candidates. However, the structure of the tiered electoral system makes it almost impossible for a candidate to become a member of the higher level people's congresses without Party approval. One such mechanism is the limit on the number of candidates in proportion to the number of seats available. At the national level, for example, a maximum of 110 candidates are allowed per 100 seats; at the provincial level, this ratio is 120 candidates per 100 seats. This ratio increases for each lower level of people's congresses, until the village level, the lowest level, where there is no limit on the number of candidates for each seat. Furthermore, the constitution of the National People's Congress provides for most of its power to be exercised on a day-to-day basis by its Standing Committee. Due to its overwhelming majority in the Congress, the Communist Party has total control over the composition of the Standing Committee, thereby controlling the actions of the National People's Congress. Although Party approval is in effect essential for membership in the NPC, approximately a third of the seats are by convention reserved for non-Communist Party members. This include technical experts and members of the smaller allied parties. While these members do provide technical expertise and a somewhat greater diversity of views, they do not function as a political opposition. Standing Committee of the National People's Congress The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress is a committee of about 150 members of the National People's Congress (NPC) of the People's Republic of Se'alon (PRS), which is convened between plenary sessions of the NPC. It has the constitutional authority to modify legislation within limits set by the NPC, and thus acts as a de facto legislative body. It is led by a Supreme Councillor, Se'alon's top legislator, who is the Head of Government for the PRS. The NPCSC also has quasi-judicial functions, in that it has the power to interpret laws of the PRS. Supreme Councillor The Supreme Councillor of the People's Republic of Se'alon, is the Chairman of the National People's Congress and head of Central People's Government. The Supreme Councillor is formally approved by the National People's Congress upon the nomination of the Supreme Council Chair. In practice, both the Supreme Council Chair and the Supreme Councillor are selected after high level negotiations within the Communist Party of Se'alon. The Supreme Councillor is always a member of the Supreme Council. The Supreme Councillor is responsible for organizing and administering the Se'alonese civil bureaucracy. Significantly, the Supreme Councillor does not have authority over the People's Liberation Army. In recent years, there has been a division of responsibilities between the Supreme Councillor and the Supreme Council Chair of the People's Republic of Se'alon in which the Supreme Councillor is responsible for the technical details of implementing government policy while the Supreme Council Chair gathers the political support necessary for government policy. Premier The power of the Premier within the People's Republic of Se'alon has been greatly diminished since its restructuring. The Supreme Councillor has taken over most responsibilities that were formerly the Premier's. Currently, the Premier is the Chair of the State Council. He is responsible for making the agenda of the State Council and also for overlooking all of the ministries and commissions within the State Council. The Premier has no legislative or judicial powers, and is simple an appointed figure who leads the State Council. The Premier and Vice-Premiers are appointed by the Supreme Council Chair upon the start of their term. They must be a member of the State Council in order to become Premier or Vice-Premier. State Council The State Council, which is largely synonymous with the Central People's Government, is the chief administrative authority of the People's Republic of Se'alon. It is chaired by the Premier and includes the heads of each governmental department and agency. There are about 50 members in the Council. In the politics of the People's Republic of Se'alon, the Central People's Government forms one of three interlocking branches of power, the others being the Communist Party of Se'alon and the People's Liberation Army. The State Council directly oversees the various subordinate People's Governments in the provinces, and in practice maintains an interlocking membership with the top levels of the Communist Party of Se'alon creating a fused center of power. Standing Committee members of the State Council include the premier, four vice-premiers, five state councilors, and the secretary-general. The State Council meets once a month. Its standing committee meets twice a week. The vice-premiers and state councilors are nominated by the premier, and appointed by the Supreme Council Chair with National People's Congress' (NPC) and Supreme Council's approval. The premier is nominated and appointed by the Supreme Council Chair with NPC and Supreme Council approval. Incumbents may serve two successive five-year terms. Each vice premier oversees certain areas of administration. Each State Councilor performs duties as designated by the Premier. The secretary-general heads the General Office which handles the day-to-day work of the State Council. The secretary-general has relatively little power and should not be confused with the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Se'alon. Each ministry supervises one sector. Commissions outrank ministries and set policies for and coordinate the related activities of different administrative organs. Offices deal with matters of ongoing concern. Bureaus and administrations rank below ministries. Although formally responsible to the NPC and its Standing Committee in conducting a wide range of government functions both at the national and at the local levels, in practice the NPC's actual authority is rather limited, although it is not completely non-existent. The State Council acts according by virtue of the authority of the NPC, and there have been at least one case where the NPC has outright rejected an initiative of the State Council and a few cases where the State Council has withdrawn or greatly modified a proposal in response to NPC opposition. The State Council and the Communist Party of Se'alon are also tightly interlocked. Most of the members of the State Council are high level party members. Although, as party members, they are supposed to follow party instructions, because they tend to be senior members of the party they also have large amounts of influence over what those instructions are. The party and state are fused at this level of government. The members of the State Council derive their authority from being members of the state, while as members of the Party they coordinate their activities and determine key decisions such as the naming of personnel. As the chief administrative organ of government, its main functions are to formulate administrative measures, issue decisions and orders, and monitor their implementation; draft legislative bills for submission to the NPC or its Standing Committee; and prepare the economic plan and the state budget for deliberation and approval by the NPC. The State Council is the functional center of state power and clearinghouse for government initiatives at all levels. With the government's emphasis on economic modernization, the State Council clearly acquired additional importance and influence. Despite the inclusion of the Ministry for National Defence in the State Council, it does not control the People's Liberation Army which functions independently of the state council. Principal officers Premier of the State Council Vice Premiers of the State Council Secretary-general State Councillors Ministries and Commissions of the State Council Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ministry of National Defence National Development and Reform Commission Ministry of Education Ministry of Science and Technology State Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence State Ethnic Affairs Commission Ministry of Public Security Ministry of State Security Ministry of Supervision Ministry of Civil Affairs Ministry of Justice Ministry of Finance Ministry of Personnel Ministry of Labour and Social Security Ministry of Land and Resources Ministry of Construction Ministry of Railways Ministry of Communications Ministry of Information Industry Ministry of Water Resources Ministry of Agriculture Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) Ministry of Culture Ministry of Health National Population and Family Planning Commission People's Bank of Se'alon National Audit Office Special Commission directly under State Council State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission Bureaux and Administrations under the State Council General Administration of Customs State Administration of Taxation State Administration for Industry and Commerce General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine State Environmental Protection Administration Civil Aviation Administration of Se'alon State Administration of Radio, Film and Television General Administration of Press and Publication State Sports General Administration National Bureau of Statistics State Forestry Administration State Food and Drug Administration State Administration of Work Safety State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) National Tourism Administration State Administration for Religious Affairs Counselor's Office under the State Council Bureau of Government Offices Administration Offices Foreign Affairs Office Office of Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council Legislative Affairs Office State Economic Restructuring Office Information Office Research Office Institutions Xinhua News Agency Se'alon News Service Se'alonese Academy of Sciences Se'alonese Academy of Social Sciences Se'alonese Academy of Engineering Development Research Center of the State Council National School of Administration State Seismological Bureau Se'alon Meteorological Administration Se'alon Banking Regulatory Commission (SBRC) Se'alon Securities Regulatory Commission Se'alon Insurance Regulatory Commission State Electricity Regulatory Commission National Council for Social Security Fund National Natural Science Foundation Bureaux supervised by commissions and ministries State Bureau for Letters and Calls State Grain Bureau State Tobacco Monopoly Industry Bureau State Bureau of Foreign Experts Affairs State Oceanography Bureau State Bureau of Surveying & Mapping State Postal Bureau State Bureau of Cultural Relics State Administration of Traditional Se'alonese Medicine State Administration of Foreign Exchange